Lower East Side

The Lower East Side (LES) is a neighborhood of southestern Manhattan, New York City. Located along the East River, the Lower East Side was originally known as "Corlears Hook" during the colonial era. During the 1840s, the area was nicknamed "Little Germany" due to the large number of German immigrants that chose to settle in the area, and a large Jewish community of 400,000 had formed by 1920. The neighborhood consisted of tenements and pushcart shops during the early 20th century, during which time anarchism, socialism, communism, art, and the Beat genre were common themes in the area. After World War II's end in 1945, Puerto Ricans and African-Americans moved into the area, and the Hispanic part of the neighborhood became known as "Loisaida", the Spanglish word for "Lower East Side". During the 1960s, hipsters, musicians, and artists on the Lower East Side developed a separate culture from the Lower East Side in East Village, and LES began to decline. During the 1980s, it began to stabilize, and immigrants from Bangladesh, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Poland moved into the area. During the 2000s, LES was gentrified as luxury condos were built and as more people moved into the neighborhood. In 2010, LES had a population of 72,957, with 39.6% being Hispanic, 24.9% Asian, 22.6% white, 10.9% African-American, 1.6% multiracial, .3% other races, .2% Native American, and 0% Pacific islander (13 people).